Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar, Mobile numbers (JAM): Govt's tool to promote welfare
New Delhi: A day after Economic Survey talked of JAM trinity — Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar, Mobile numbers — the BJP government on Saturday announced that it would work towards creating a universal social security scheme for the poor through a slew of medical and accident insurance schemes and a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund. The JAM trinity is to be used to to expand welfare policies.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley said a large proportion of India’s population is without insurance of any kind — health, accidental or life.
“Worryingly, as our young population ages, it is also going to be pension-less. Encouraged by the success of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, I propose to work towards creating a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor and the under-privileged,” he said. The soon-to-be-launched Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna will cover accidental death risk of Rs 2 lakh for a premium of just Rs 12 per year. Similarly, the government will also launch the Atal Pension Yojana, which will provide a defined pension.
To encourage people to join this scheme, the government will contribute 50 per cent of the beneficiaries’ premium limited to Rs 1,000 each year, for five years, in the new accounts opened before 31 December 2015, he said.
“The third social security scheme that I wish to announce is the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana which covers both natural and accidental death risk of Rs 2 lakh. The premium will be Rs 330 per year,” he said.
Noting that there are unclaimed deposits of about Rs 3,000 crore in the PPF, and approximately Rs 6,000 crore in the EPF corpus, he said he proposes the creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund for appropriation of these amounts to a corpus.
